"cc" <cpasuneadresse@spam.com> wrote in message news:<ckecil$rtc$1@bgsv5647.tk.mesh.ad.jp>...

> If "suicide" is considered exceptional delay, and on time means less than 20
> minutes late, JRWest can claim the same. They don't give you an excuse
> ticket for only 10 minutes these days. Also, nobody cares. I see only gaigin
> arriving on time at work, on appointments, dates etc.
> 
I've had long delays only two or three times in Japan, and always due
to weather. Actually, once was a problem on the Shinkansen line
(accident or something; it was a long time ago). They were telling
people to wait for the line to open, because if they got on the train
they'd have to get off at some station down around Nagoya. A couple of
other gaigin thought that if we have to wait it's better to wait on
the train than in Tokyo, so we got on the train and got very drunk on
the mostly empty train. By the time we got to wherever the problem was
there wasn't a problem anymore, so a bunch of people packed in and we
went on our way.

I was somewhat amused another time to find that a small snowstorm in
the Osaka area nearly shut down the train system; took something like
three hours to get from Himeji to Kobe. it was one of the few times I
have ever been late for work.

John W.